EducateDeviate - Learn Differently
Project Street Address
Project City
Project Province/State
Project Postal/Zip Code
Project Country
Field of Work
education
Year project started (or projected start date) (yyyy)
2006
If Field of Work is “other” please define in 1-2 words below
YouTube Upload
Project URL (or link to any media coverage)
http://educatedeviate.wordpress.com
What is the primary problem your venture is trying to address and how are you addressing it (or planning to address it)?
Young people in Malaysia are often not given the options or space to fully explore different forms of learning, nor are they often allowed to indulge in their passions and interests. EducateDeviate provides support, inspiration, and resources for young Malaysians looking to empower themselves, learn more about the world, and enrich the lives of themselves and their community.
Name Your Project
Describe Your Idea
Project Description
A regularly-updated blog with resources, ideas, interviews, tips, and musings on alternative education and youth empowerment in a Malaysian and global context.
Unique and different
Not many have publicly talked about alternatives in education in Malaysia, especially not with regards to young people. There were also very little support systems for young Malaysians at the time. EducateDeviate uses a medium popular with young people - online blogs - to reach out to them and encourage them to empower themselves and reach out to each other.
Project plan
To develop EducateDeviate into a resource directory and fully interactive community portal, and to do more research on best practices and models for youth empowerment worldwide so that I can start a pilot project back home.
Partnerships
Mainly with other youth websites and blogs - crossposting and sharing links.
Impact
A vibrant and empowered Malaysian youth community that supports itself and others through their passions, interests, and energy.
Effectiveness
I have a readership of about 200 a day, mostly from young Malaysians and those interested in education. I have heard from readers that have benefited from a resource on my blog, or who have found inspiration within my blog to pursue their own passions.
How do you engage and impact the community?
By writing about other engaging and inspiring young people, and by providing ideas, resources, and support.
How do you measure this impact?
Feedback from readers, monitoring latest Malaysian news
Obstacles
A lot of changes need to be made at the government level, especially with regards to how young people are regarded and respected. There needs to be a big culture shift. Also, we need to have more assistance with structure and organisation for the impact to go beyond the blog.
Issue Selector
(or how do you expect your initiative will be financed)
The blog's free and I cover any expenses personally.
Aside from financial sustainability, how do you plan to grow and sustain your project?
This depends on how I plan to expand the project - I will first need to do research on how other similar projects are run and funded, and from there I can pick the best options.
Finance details
Just me.
Creative funding
I asked around for web design help, and following a request on Ask Metafilter, I found someone to help me with the redevelopment of the website.
Other non finance needs
Mentoring, budget help, time (to collect and collate resources), structural know-how
Motivation
I was frustrated with the restrictiveness of school and general Malaysian society, and have always loved the alternative experiences I was lucky to have. I once went back to my old school to give a speech on Life After School - the response was overwhelmingly positive. I knew there was a need for this sort of information, and a blog was the easiest way to do it.
Awards
Winner, Student Leadership Excellence Award, 2008 Finalist, AYA Dream Malaysia Youth Awards, 2007
Broader context
It provides Malaysian youth with inspiration and motivation to create change in themselves and others, and to empower themselves. It also builds links with other young people worldwide doing the same things.
Ongoing
I would like to have EducateDeviate's work go beyond the blog and into real-world projects, such as a resource centre, roadshows, or print publications.
What is your age?
23
How did you hear about this competition?
All sorts of ways - blog comments (a bit spammy!), Facebook, other blogs
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